Electric heater.



No. 682,324. Patented Sept. l0, I90I. J. P. ERIE. euzcmc HEATR.

(Application fllod Sept. 22, 1900.) (No Modal.) 3 Shaets-Sheet l.

w z g .6 g g g a No. 682,324. Patented Sept. l0, I9OI. J. P. ERIE.

ELEOTRIC HEATER.

(Application au lopt. 22, 1900. (la Modal.) 3 Shah-Shoot 2.

No. 682,324. Patehtqd Sept. 10, mon.

J. P. ERIE.

ELECTRIG HEATER.

(Appfiuflon au Ioptl un, 1000. (No Iollej.) 3 Shah-Shoot 3.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES PHILIP ERIE, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE ERIE EXPLO- RATION COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE AND DOVER, DELAVARE.

ELECTRIC HEATER.

SPECFIJAIION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,324, dated September 10, 1901.

Application filed September 22, 1900. Serial No. 30,826. (No modal.)

T all w7wm it mayconcern:

Be it known that I, JAMES PHILIP ERIE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improveinents in Electric Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to electric heaters; and it has for its object to provide an improved standard heater or heater section or element which may be used either by itself or a number connected together to constitnte a heater for broiling, toasting, boilin g, or, in fact, for any purpose desired; and to these ends my invention consists in a heater cmbodying features of construction and adapted to be arranged and operated substantially as hereinafter more particularly set forth.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a vertical transverse section of the holder, Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the insnlating strip or ocre. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the holder, Fig. 3 is a similar view of the 2 5 holder, showing a grid in position in the holder, forming a complete standard heatersection. Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a series of four heater-sections joined toget-her with their fiat surfaces uppermost. Figs. 5

and 6 are perspective views showing ways of using the heater. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the insulating-strip, and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the complete heater section or element.

As above indicated, one of the main objecte of my invention is to provide What I have termed a standard heater or heater section or element which shall in itself be capable of being used as a heater for many pu rposes and which shall be of such construction and arrangement that a number of them may be connected together to form heaters of various shapes, sizes, and adapted for dilerent purposes, and a further object is to provide a cheap eiective commecial article and one that is not open to many of the objections of those heretofore suggested.

I Will first describe in detail the construction of one of the stantard heaters or heatersections and then show to some extent how said sections may be combined and arranged to form heaters adapted for various purposes.

The heatensection comprises a holder or frame A, which is preferably made of metal and has open ends and one open side a, the edges A being preferably turned inward to form fianges a. Such a holder can be cheaply made of any desired size; but preferably I make it of a size adapted to receive and hold one or more of my standard insulating strips or cores, such as are described in my application, Serial No. 29,928, filed concurrently herewith. Such a standard insulating strip or core is illustrated in Fig. 1', and its construction need not be set forth in great detail herein, reference being made to the abovenamed application, and it is sufiicient to state that it comprises a body portion 1, having ar-. ranged on one or both sides one or more rows of projections 2 and being provided with a footpiece 3 and a headpiece 4, each having side extensions 5 5 and edge extensions 6 G, there being suitable recesses 7 in these extensions for the passage of wire and preferably having a recess 8 in one, as the footpiece, and an extension 9 on the headpiece, so that two or more of them may be joined together longitudinally. This strip or core is preferably made of insulating material, such as molded porcelain,and fine wire 10 is wound around the same to offer the desired resistance to the passage of the current, the coils of wire being separated from each other by the projections 2 and the extensions on the head and foot pieces serving to support the strip in itssnrrounding case 8 or holder, so that there is' no danger 01? contact between thewire and said case or holder, in a manner more fully set forth in my aforesaid application. One or more of said standard insulating-strips are inserted in the holder A, one being shown in the present instance, although it is evident that a number of them may be supplied, the holder being of a proper size to receive them.

In order to make what I call a standard 5 heater or heater-section, it is desirable that the eleetric terminals be so arranged that a number of heater-sections can be joined together and the circuit coxnpleted therethrough without disturbing the internal arrangement of circuits, and in order to accomplish this I provide the holder With means for seuring the sections together, both mechanically and electrically, and I have shown the holder as provided on its edges with connectors, shown in the form of hinge-seetions B B, which constitute a combined mechanical and electrical conneotor, said sections beinginsulated from the holder and connected to the terminals 10 10 et the coil.surrounding the insulating-core. The insulating-strips in the holder A are preferably covered on their upper side by a grid or foraminous shield A preierably made of metal and fitting the space between the fianges a and being flush therewilh, and these' may be secured detachably or permanentiy to the holder in any suitable way, and I have shown their ends a? as bent down o ver the insulating strip or core and as hein}: secured to the holder by a wire a pass ing through openings' a in the holder and through the openings in the gird o r shield. These cvers or shields notonly serve t0 protect the insuIating-strips and secure them in the holder, but being perforated or foraminous they furnish a heabingsurface which is best adaptedfor sonne particular purposes, allowing, the heat to radiate directly from the c0nductorand pass through the openings onto the substance being heated or into the air.

' In some instances it is preferable to have a smooth surface for the heater, and it will be seen that the other side of the holder is solid and closed and furnishes a smooth heating-surfaoe in close juxtaposition to the conductor, but prevents any access to the conductor of juices or other extraneous matter from the material being heated on this surface of theheater.

Ordinarily the leading wires from the electrie circuit will be secured to the connectorhinge, which is, as before stated, connected to the terminals of the resisting or heating conductor, or if a number of heatifig sections are joined together, forming a heater of larger dimensions, the terminals of the elec' trie circuit are connected to the outside connectors or hinge portions, as shown by the conductors marked and in the various figures. Sometimes, however, it is desirable to have the leading-in wires extend from one side only of the heateror heater-seciion, and in order to adapt the standard for this purp0se supplemental hinges or contacts D D may be attached to the edges of the holder,

and these may be connected by a conductor D of1ow resistance. When a number of sections are joined together, one of these supplemental hinges, as D, may be connected to the bingo-section B by a pin or Wire or conductor D or in any other suitable way. VVhen thus constructed and a number of heater-sections are joined together, leading-in wires may be connected to one of the hinge-sections Bon one side of one of the sections, as shown in Fig. 4, and the other 1eading Wire may be connected to the supplefnental hinge D of the same section on the same edge, and the various heating conductors of the standard heatcr-sections are then connected in series, as will beapparent from Fig. 4.

Of course any other equivalent means of electrically connecting the Mater-sections to-' gether may be adopted, and I need not herein explain them in detail, as they will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art; but the manner above set forth and described is practical and effective.

Referring to one heater-scction, which may be used alone and, asbetore intimaced, may be of any size desired, containing one or more of the insulating strips or cores, it will be seen thatit forums adesirable heater, which can be used for many and various purposes and in many and various positions, and that it has a fiat continuons surface on one side and a perforated side on the other, and its .ends are open, so that aii-currents may read ily 'reach the heating-conductor and impinge directly thereon or on the surface of the holder.

When a nnmber of the heater-sections are joied,tegether, as by means of connectors in the for'm of hinges or otherwise, I can form a heater of any desired size and can foid the sections in .difierent wayssucb, for in- Stance, as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in one of which I have shown four sections hinged together and standing on end, With their perforated sides -tow ard each other, and any article to be heated can be set upon the' upper end of the heater or combined heater-sections, or, as in Fig. 6, I have shown six heater-sections joined together and made to embrace the article to be heated, as indicated, forming a substantial cylindrieal heater. Other combinations of the standard heater-sections may.be made and will readily suggest themselves and need not be specifically pointed out, and it will be seen that in ail cases the leading-in wires are conneeted simply at tw0 terminals, either on one heater-section or on the opposite edges of two (the external) heater-sections, the connections between the heater-sections being made at the hinges or other devices by means of which they. are secured together. In all instances and arrangements of the heater-sections it will be observed that the heatingflconductor is protected and is not liable to be in contact with the heater-f1ame or other matter, so that it is not liable to injury or to injure extraneous devices by coining in contact therewith. Of course the hinges or otherconnectors should be so arranged on the'edges as not to project above the holder on either side, so that there will be no danger of short circuiting the heater-sections by placing a pan or other article of a conducting material directly on the faces of the sides.

Having thus described the preferred con strucrion of my improved standard heater-see tion and varions ways of combining and using the same, it Will be nnderstood that I do not limit myseif to the precise construction and arrangement shown.

What I claim is 1. An eiectric heater section or element, comprising a holder, a conduetor mounted in the hoider, and hinge-sections secured to the holder and connected L0 the terminals of the conductor and forming mechanical and electrie connectors f0! uniting a plurality of heater sections 01 elements, snbstantially as described. V

2. An electric heater-section, comprising a holder, an insulating strip or core mounted therein and carrying an electric conductor, hinges secured to the edges of the holder forming electric terminals and connected to the terminals of the conductor on the strip, and snpplemental hinges or contacts monnted on the holder and adapted to form a return-circuit, substantially as described.

3. An electric heater, comprising a series of electric heater-sections, each section comprising a holder containing an insuiting-strip and conductor thereon, each hoider being provided with eiectric terminais connected to the conductor on the strip, and hinges con- JAMES PHILIP ERIE.

\Vitnesses:

H. M. GILLMAN, J 1'., W. CLARENCE DUVALL. 

